Attatchments
by bluedragon03
Summary: *Request* Though Sesshomaru decided long ago to avoid emotional attachments, there's something about the girl he's paired with on this college assignment that he can't ignore.


***EDIT: I have just discovered FFN took out some of my page breaks, so I'm here to put them back.**

"Taisho and Higurashi, you two are paired on this project!" Kagome barely managed to conceal her quiet 'yes!' She had just been assigned the smartest kid in class to be her partner. _This semester might not be so bad after all._ She glanced over at her newly assigned partner, indifferent as always, his fingers idly rolling a strand of his silver hair between his fingers.

Sesshomaru was notoriously aloof, hardly showing any emotion, and rarely speaking. His fellow classmates called him 'Fluffy' ironically. Most other people were too afraid to talk to him at all. He was tall and muscular, and there was something in his eyes that inspired fear in most, a coldness, an indifference. The lack of emotion disarmed most people. Kagome wasn't in the practice of letting things like that deter her, however. She was determined to get an A on this project and make a friend in the process. After class she flounced over to his desk while he cleared his things and extended her hand to him.

"Hi, I'm Kagome! I hope we can work well together on this project!" Sesshomaru ignored her hand and swept away. A few nearby people snickered, and one murmured 'good luck, Higurashi.' Kagome frowned, then followed him out of the room, undeterred.

"Hey! Hey Sesshomaru, wait up!" Kagome cried, running to catch up with him. Her short legs struggled to close the gap between them as he completely ignored her cries. She pushed her legs faster and sighed in relief when he began heading towards the library. _Oh thank goodness._

She spied Sesshomaru's things on the table when she entered the library. She placed her things next to his and scanned the shelves for him. She found him in the medical research section, holding several books in one hand and tracing the titles with his other. As soon as she was in arm's reach he dumped the books wordlessly into her arms.

"I-uh…" She said.

"Do you want to do the project or not?" He asked, without looking at her. The sudden sound of his voice startled her.

"Yeah, I do! But, what are these?"

"Those are books, and if you don't know that by now I'm assuming that I will be doing the majority of the work in this project on my own."

"Well you don't have to be such a jerk about it!" Sesshomaru didn't respond, just removed another book from the shelf and plopping it onto the others. _This might be a little more difficult than I'd originally thought._

Kagome sighed heavily and returned to the table with their things and set the book down, pushing her back onto the ground. She scanned the titles of the books he had given her and sighed. _These all sound so boring._ The sound of books dropping onto the table startled her, she looked up to see Sesshomaru towering over her, _he's so quiet, I didn't even hear him walk up._ Sesshomaru sat down, still without speaking, and opened a book. Kagome sat as well, but she kept her eyes on him, watching as he opened his notebook and began taking notes in elegant handwriting.

 _What's this guy's deal?_ She wondered. _He's acting like a character from Lord of the Rings or something. And what's with that handwriting? It's so pretty._ She took in the rest of him, his hair was silver, but it didn't look like it had been bleached or died, it seemed like that was his natural color. It was impossible to tell exactly how long his hair was because it tied up in a bun. Kagome realized that she'd never seen it any other way. She jumped when he spoke again, she wondered if she would ever get used to his voice: smooth, emotionless, and deep.

"This is a library, not a concert. If you want to oogle a man shamelessly then buy a ticket to see one perform live." Kagome felt herself flush and looked back to the pile of books in front of her, picked one at random, and opened it to a random page. She took a few moments to compose herself and collect her thoughts.

She opened her mouth to ask him if he had any ideas about how he wanted to do the project, but thought better of it. He probably wouldn't answer, so she decided to just take notes and prepare for her idea and she could work it out with him later. They worked like that, silently, for an hour before he stood.

"Do you plan to continue using these books? This class block is about to be over."

"What?" Kagome looked around, then checked the time on her phone. "Oh, you're right. I hadn't even noticed. No, I have to get back to class, but I would like to check them out." Sesshomaru nodded and began gathering them up while she put away her things. She was surprised when he carried them to the librarian's desk for her. _He doesn't really seem the gentleman type,_ she thought.

"Are you intending to take these with you to your next class?" He asked.

"No I was going to drop them off in my room in the sorority. I live on campus." Sesshomaru nodded and left. _So much for good old fashioned chivalry,_ she thought. _But I guess he probably has to get to class as well._ Kagome struggled under the weight of her books for several yards before a familiar voice calling her name got her attention.

"Sango!" Kagome cried, turning to face the woman running towards her, "Help!" When Sango reached her she took half the books from Kagome's arms and fell into step next to her.

"So what's up with all the books?" She asked.

"It's for my group project," Kagome replied.

"They give you group work in junior year of medical school?" Sango asked, "I thought that was a elementary school thing."

"Apparently not, but my partner is a senior, and you'll never guess who it is!"

"Who?"

"Sesshomaru," Kagome whispered, as he would be able to hear her from wherever he was.

"No way!" Sango said, mimicking her tone. "Fluffy? What was he like?"

"Well first of all, I think he'd hate being called that." Sango nodded impatiently.

"Who wouldn't?"

"But he was… intense."

"What do you mean?" The two girls turned the corner and their sorority house came into view.

"He was just, intense. He was so quiet, even his footsteps were silent. And he didn't talk much. Only said a few words the whole time we were together."

"The whole time? What do you mean?"

"We studied together during my free period." Kagome told Sango the whole story from the time that she tried to introduce herself to when he swept out of the library, leaving her with a stack of very heavy books to carry across campus.

"Whoa, he actually called you out for staring?"

"That's what you took from that?" Kagome protested.

"I mean, most people would just ignore that or pretend not to notice. But he called you out. That's intense."

"I gotta go, I'm gonna be late to my next class."

X x x

"So when's the next time you're going to see him?" Sango asked, reclining on her bed across from Kagome and snacking on some dried fruit. Kagome rolled over on her own bed and idly flipped a page in one of the books. Kagome and Sango shared a room at the sorority house where they lived, and they often stayed up all night talking without meaning too. It was after midnight now, but neither of the girls had classes the next day.

"I guess the next time we have class," Kagome replied.

"You brought the books here, so are you going to bring him back to the sorority to study?"

"I really don't know. I don't even know how he wants to do the project, I just kind of did my own thing and so did he. I don't really know what's going on."

"You know mysterious is kind of sexy." Kagome snorted and rolled her eyes playfully.

"What's up with his hair?" Kagome asked. "It didn't look like it had been bleached, and his eyebrows are that color as well. I think it grows that silver color."

"That's so weird," Sango says, "I've never met anyone with hair like that."

"Neither have I, and I think it must be long because he wears it in that bun so it's impossible to tell how long it really is."

"I wonder if it's soft," Sango ventured.

"Well it _did_ look clean, so I'm guessing he at least takes care of it."

"Well if you're going to have hair that long you had better."

"You don't even know how long it is!" Kagome laughed.

"I say it goes down to at least his ass. Maybe it drags the ground," Sango joked.

"No way! He would get tangled in it when he slept and step on it when he showered! It touches the ground, at the _most._ "

"What if it's a wig and he's really bald?" Kagome snorted then threw her head back and laughed, Sango cackling right along side her. The girl in the room next to them banged on the wall and they clapped hands over their mouth to muffle their laughter. Kagome could not get the image of a bald Sesshomaru standing in front of a mirror straightening his wig out of her mind.

"Sango I hate you so much, I won't be able to look him in the eye next time I see him! I'll never get that image out of my mind!" Kagome whispered.

"Good," Sango snickered. "Maybe you laughing at him will take down his ego a few notches."

"Who says he has a big ego?" Kagome asked.

"He's a strong but silent pretty boy who's about to graduate medical school into his residency. He's got an ego."

"Fair enough," Kagome replied.

X x x

Sesshomaru was waiting by her desk when she finished packing up.

"Are men allowed in your sorority house?" He asked simply.

"Yeah on the first floor," Kagome replied. He nodded and swept out the door in his usual manner. Kagome huffed a sigh and hurried after him.

"Which one is it?" He asked when she caught up with him.

"It's just up here," she pointed as they turned the corner and the building came into view. Kagome quickened her pace and glanced around, hoping Sango would be nearby. She hopped up the steps and held the door open for him.

"Welcome to my crib," she joked. He cast her a side glance that was possibly the most expression she had ever seen him make, and it told her he hadn't understood. _Not a fan of MTV then,_ she thought.

"You can wait over there," Kagome said, pointing to the now empty sitting room, "and I'll go get the books." He walked, silent as usual, to the sitting room and sat down, scanning the room. She climbed the stairs and began stacking the books up so she could carry them in one trip.

"Who the hell are you?" She heard someone ask, _Kagura._

"He's with me, Kagura, we're working on a project together," Kagome shouted.

"Oh. Well, you're not allowed upstairs." There was silence. Eithe Sesshomaru didn't answer or his answer was too quiet for her to hear. "Oi, do you hear me?"

"He doesn't talk much," Kagome said, making her way down the stair with her arms stacked full of books.

"Why, is he mute?"

"Why would I reply when nothing you say is worth a response?" Sesshomaru said, looking bored.

"He's not mute, he's just an asshole sometimes," Kagome said pointedly. Of course, he didn't respond. Kagome was starting to get used to that.

"Well, whatever," Kagura said, ascending the stairs to her room.

"You shouldn't be mean to people in their own homes, Sesshomaru." Kagome crossed the room and dropped the books on the coffee table. "We need to talk," she said. Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow in response. "About the project. What do you want to do?"

"I assume you had ideas of your own."

"Yeah, but we can't both do our own ideas, so we need to both share what we were thinking and decide together!"

"Alright."

They spent the hour talking about their project, Kagome talked mostly, with Sesshomaru commenting every now and then. During this time several of the girls cycled through the house and whispered to each other about 'that scary guy with Kagome.' Sango came in and saw him, observed him briefly then went on with her business. Kagome knew they would gossip later. When their break period was over Sesshomaru stood.

"I would like to meet and work on this project over the weekend," he stated.

"Alright, sure. I'll be here all weekend, so just come over whenever." He nodded and left.

X x x

Saturday morning a pounding on her door woke Kagome up. She cracked open her eyes to see Sango covering her head with a pillow.

"Arugh…" she groaned, fumbling on the floor for her phone to check the time. "Seven a.m.?"

"Kagome!" Kagura shouted, continuously pounding on the door. "Kagome that guy is here to see you, he says he wants to work on your project!"

"Let's kill him," Sango mumbled through her pillow. "No sane person is up this early."

"You're going to have to come keep this guy company because I'm not going too," Kagura said. "Come on, get up or I'm coming in there with a glass of water." Kagome groaned and rolled out of bed straight onto the floor, then climbed to her feet.

"I've only been asleep for, like, two hours," she complained.

"That's your fault," Kagura said. "I'm not the one who invited some guy over at seven in the morning."

"I did _not_ tell him to come over so early," Kagome pointed out, not bothering to get dressed before walking down the stairs. If Sesshomaru was going to drag her out of bed he'd have to deal with her pajamas or he could go away and let her sleep.

"Do you hate me?" She asked when she saw him, sitting on the couch quietly. His eyes flicked from her unbrushed hair, to her pajamas, to her bare feet, then back to her eyes, half lidded and probably red.

"Did I wake you?"

"No, Sesshomaru, I always wake up at seven in the morning on weekends when I've only had two hours sleep. Sleep deprivation is a hobby of mine." His eyes narrowed slightly and Kagome wondered if he understood the concept of sarcasm or if he was taking her seriously.

"Would you like me to leave?" He asked. _Would ya look at that?_ She thought, _He gets sarcasm after all._

"Since you're already here we might as well get started," she replied. _It would be rude to send him away. He probably has things to do too._

X x x

 _How long has she been asleep?_ Sesshomaru wondered. He checked his phone, it was 9:30 in the morning. He'd been there with her for two hours, but hadn't noticed her sleeping. He had a few text messages from Rin, and a few snapchats, which were probably all of Jaken, her pet frog. He deeply regretted letting her download the app on his phone. She got upset when he didn't open them so he sighed and clicked on the first message.

It was, as expected, a picture of her toad. She'd placed a pink bow on his head and captioned it 'all hail master Jaken. The next was a video of her asking him silly questions and him ribbiting, to which Rin cackled in reply. Despite his annoyance she was disrupting his studies he still had to suppress a small smile at the sound of her laugh. He clicked through the next few images of the frog doing various frog things then put away his phone, he rarely replied.

His eyes drifted back to Kagome, still sleeping, face resting on a library book. She was drooling slightly, so he reached over and slid the book away from her face to save her the library fee. He thought about maybe waking her, but decided against it, he would let her sleep for a while. He'd overheard her telling that other woman that she'd only been asleep two hours when he'd arrived.

He went back to work, allowing her to sleep. Every now and then she made these little noises that made it impossible for him to focus. She kept distracting him so eventually he decided to take a break. He put his pen down and leaned back on the couch, gazing out the window, thinking.

He had to admit he liked this girl, which was unusual, he didn't like many people. In fact, Rin was probably the only other person he interacted with regularly. _She and Rin would get along well,_ he thought. _She's very pretty,_ he thought as she stirred in her sleep again. He checked his phone. He had about ten new snaps from Rin. He opened them one after the other and was relieved that at least _some_ of them weren't of that blasted frog.

"Mmmm," Kagome groaned. Sesshomaru watched her face twist as she yawned, then sat up, rubbing her eyes childishly. "What time is it?"

"Ten," he said.

"You let me sleep?"

"I woke you up."

"Fair enough."

"You were drooling."

"Oops."

"And making noises."

"I was dreaming."

"About what?"

"Sango was riding a two tailed sabertooth tiger and trying to kill you. And you were wearing this enormous ridiculous fur thing and people still called you Fluffy."

"Will I never be free?" He asked, and it took Kagome a full minute to realize that Sesshomaru had just made a joke. She grinned.

"No rest for the wicked." A ghost of a smile played on Sesshomaru's face, which only served to widen Kagome's smile.

"I'm going to go clean up." Sesshomaru didn't reply to this, so Kagome left to change her clothes and brush her hair.

Kagome's jaw dropped in horror. "I've looked like _that_ all morning?" She said to herself. She snatched her brush off the dresser and ran it through her hair. She changed into some shorts and a t-shirt then walked to the bathroom and washed her face and brushed her teeth. "Now I look like a real person, not a grimeline."

When she walked back down the stairs the sitting room had populated, several of the other girls had woken up and were eating breakfast or studying. Sango was busy trying to engage Sesshomaru in conversation, and Sesshomaru was dutifully ignoring her. As Kagome approached the couch she saw Sesshomaru clicking through a number of snapchats featuring a young girl and a toad. He sighed heavily and put his phone away.

"Who was that?" Kagome asked. Sesshomaru and Sango looked around. "You have a Snapchat?"

"Rin downloaded that infernal app on my phone, I shouldn't have let her. She sends me photos of that blasted toad all day, and then she whines if I don't open them," Sesshomaru replied, sounding annoyed. Kagome giggled.

"Is Rin your little sister?"

"She's a pest."

"You know you love her." Sesshomaru was silent. Kagome plopped down next to Sango and picked up her notes, flicking through them idly. "What did you get while I was sleeping?" He passed over his notes and Kagome scanned them quickly. "This is good stuff."

"So when's this project of yours due?" Sango asked, picking up Kagome's notes and looking through them. She furrowed her brow and dropped them again, shrugging. Sango was a criminal justice major, she didn't know much about the medical field.

"Two weeks," Kagome replied.

"You're really getting a head start on this."

"I prefer to be prepared," Sesshomaru said.

"Fair enough."

X x x

"Kagome! Kagome! Have you seen Jaken?" Kagome was walking back from the bathroom to the study when Rin, Sesshomaru's little sister, ran up to her, looking panicked.

After Sango left them yesterday the sitting room had gotten more populated and loud. On the outside he looked composed, but Kagome was getting better at reading Sesshomaru's expressions and she could tell he was getting very irritated. He'd ended up packing up early and leaving, telling her they could meet at his house tomorrow. What she hadn't expected was his 'house' to be a literal mansion. Sesshomaru was _loaded._ It also turned out that Rin was adopted, which surprised Kagome. She hadn't taken Sesshomaru for the kind of man to be so compassionate. _You learn something new everyday,_ Kagome thought.

"No, sweetie, I'm sorry. I haven't seen your frog."

"Will you help me look?"

"Of course!" Kagome followed the young girl's directions, looking under tables and behind curtains for the missing amphibian for several minutes, until Sesshomaru's irritated voice floated down the hall.

"Rin, come and get this toad. Now."

"Jaken!" Rin cried, running down the hall. Kagome followed her at a walk, smiling. Sesshomaru appeared at the door, holding Jaken. He handed the toad off to Rin, then disappeared back into the study. "Thanks for helping me look, Kagome!"

"No problem sweetie!" Kagome said, slipping into the study.

"There's dust in your hair," Sesshomaru said.

"Thanks," Kagome said, trying to knock some of the dust out of her hair. She glanced at Sesshomaru, his hair in it's ever present bun. She wondered, for the tenth time, how long it was exactly.

"...there's also some on your nose."

"Thanks again."

X x x

Not ten seconds after Kagome walked out the door Rin started.

"You like her."

"What?"

"You like her. Like, you have a crush on her."

"Don't be ridiculous, Rin."

"I know because you brought her home, and you left your hair in its bun, and you never do that. It gives you a headache. You told me so yourself. You're trying to impress her."

"Go play with Jaken," Sesshomaru said, walking away.

"You should ask Kagome on a date!" Rin called after him, then ran away, probably to play with her frog.

Sesshomaru was annoyed. Partially because Rin was right, he _did_ like Kagome, but he was also angry _because_ he liked Kagome. He'd set out to avoid all emotional attachments when his father left, but he'd failed at that. Sesshomaru didn't like failing, at anything, and his attachment to this felt like a failure.

 _I shouldn't have brought her here,_ he thought. If anything, the girls gentle treatment of his sister had only cemented the feelings he had for her. Up until he had been assigned Kagome as a partner, Rin had been his only weakness. Now it seemed he had another.

His mind drifted to the way she had looked with dust smearing her nose and in her hair, smiling at Rin, and the way she'd looked asleep on the coffee table in her sorority house. He felt like an idiot, remembering these things, dwelling on them like a lovestruck fool.

X x x

Kagome couldn't help but feel a little anxious about the day their group project was due. Not because she thought they wouldn't do well, in fact, Kagome was sure that they would get the top grade in the class, but she had found that Sesshomaru had grown on her. She rather liked his cool and quiet demeanor.

"You _like_ him!" Sango had cried when Kagome had shared these feelings.

"I do not!" Kagome protested. "No way! What is this, middle school?"

"It must be, because you have a crush on him! It's obvious!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Do you think he noticed?"

"I should hope so, he has a crush on you too!"

"No way!" There were a few seconds of silence before they both burst out laughing at the sheer childishness of their exchange.

"This whole conversation feels so cliche!" Sango commented.

"I know," Kagome said, "I feel like I'm in a fanfiction."

"A bad one," Sango agreed.

X x x

"We're almost done and it's not due for a week," Kagome pointed out, stepping through the door to Sesshomaru's house. Rin came running up to them, grinning and toting her frog. Sesshomaru looked her dead in the eye and took down his bun in one motion. Kagome thought the look on his face was something like spite, but she was quickly distracted from that by the sheer length of his hair.

"Woah," she breathed as his hair tumbled down his back and fell well below his waist. "You must take forever to shower," she whispered before she realized she was speaking out loud.

Sesshomaru gave her a perplexed look, and Kagome flushed.

"Oh yeah he's in there for hours!" Rin exclaimed. "You should see how much shampoo he uses!"

"Be quiet, Rin," said Sesshomaru. Kagome could swear he had turned the faintest shade of pink.

"But the real question is," Kagome teased, crouching down so she was eye level with Rin, "does he condition?"

Rin's face lit up as she nodded. "He doesn't always because he buys it less often, but he does sometimes."

"Let's go," Sesshomaru said, slipping away. Kagome and Rin giggled before Kagome followed after Sesshomaru, slipping out her phone and taking a creep shot to snap to Sango captioned 'OMG'. A few minutes later Sango snapped back a picture of her shocked face alongside her boyfriends disbelieving one. A second later I received another of Sango tugging on Miroku's small ponytail, the caption read 'ponytail game weak.'

X x x

"Kagome, Kagome!" Rin cried, running into the room carrying a messily iced cupcake, "I made this for you!"

"Oh my goodness!" Kagome said, "Thank you so much!" She glanced at Sesshomaru who nodded. She took that to mean it was edible. What surprised her was how good it tasted. "Wow Rin, this is amazing!"

"Thank you! But I didn't do it all by myself, Sesshomaru helped me!"

"Really?" Kagome asked, shooting a glowing look at him.

"Rin's too short to reach the counters easily," he said. Rin nodded.

"Do you really like it, Kagome?" Rin asked happily, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.

"Really!"

"Jaken she liked it!" Rin said as she ran out of the room. Kagome's jaw dropped and she turned a horrified expression towards Sesshomaru.

" _Please_ tell me that she washed her hands after handling that toad and before she made these cupcakes." For what was possibly the first time since Kagome met him, Sesshomaru laughed. He tilted his head back and his shoulders shook and his mouth smiled.

"Yes," he replied, still grinning, "I made sure. I'm going to be eating them as well, after all."

"Oh, so if they were just for me I'd be eating frog cupcakes."

"No, but I wouldn't mind feeding frog cupcakes to my brother."

"You have a brother?"

"A half brother that I loathe."

"Why? Did he do something to you?"

"No."

"Oh." Kagome decided not to pry, there was probably something she didn't know about, and that he didn't want to talk about.

He got to his feet, somber again, and left. Kagome followed him into the kitchen where he picked up one of the cupcakes and ate it. Kagome bit into another, but the icing was piled so high it got all over her face. Sesshomaru looked at her with softened eyes, then reached out and wiped the icing off her nose, and licked his finger clean. Kagome giggled and Sesshomaru passed her a napkin, still wearing that softened expression. Kagome leaned her hip against the counter next to his, smiling.

He was leaning in, eyes lingering on her lips. His hand fell into place on her hips, gently pulling her to him. She smiled. His lips tasted like icing.


End file.
